After the kind of a night that you will expect of a newly married couple, my wife and I woke up relishing the stories of our growing up days, then, furiously, she declared, "If only Jonathan cares to listen to other people's stories too, then he will know that his going to school without slippers is the least a Nigerian child of today could have prayed for."

United Nations statistics reveal that just a little above 40 percent of Nigerian children attend school; safe drinking water takes priority on the prayer list of every Nigerian home, courtesy of fake borehole projects of the political class. Simply put: the country is becoming more unsafe for its poverty- ridden people to live in.

At least Goodluck Jonathan had the opportunity of attending school, going to fish in the river (which had not been polluted by Shell, Chevron and the rest of the gang), and waking up every morning with no fear of guns sounding in the creeks or kidnappers on the streets and Boko Haram from outer space, or whatever planet they live on. Yes, the man is indeed a lucky man.

If only Ebele (as I will henceforth refer to him; not a sign of disrespect but a journey back to his pristine past) had woken up every morning and had to first hawk "pure water" on the streets to get his school fees paid, and return home only to find the family shelter demolished by the government (plot to be re-allocated shortly to the local government chairperson).

If only Ebele had needed to watch the white oil magnate visit his village, burn the bushes, pollute the creeks ‑ and be left with no option but to buy fish from the refrigerator woman. If the present president had, as a kid, been rejected from the hospital after he had been diagnosed of typhoid fever caused by unsafe drinking water, and asked to join a queue to pay thousands of naira that his parents could have afforded, except that the father's pension was yet to be paid.

If only Ebele had come back from school to meet a crowd at his house wailing over the news of the attack on his brother serving his motherland in the name of NYSC (National Youth Service Corps), by rioters in the north of the country.

If only Ebele had been a staff of Agbongbe Primary School joining other protesting teachers to demand payment of the "approved" N18,000 minimum wage.

But Ebele is now the President of Nigeria and I am afraid of what is to come. Just like our leaders of yesteryears, I am afraid that, by 2015, we may have a Jonathan who will blame his predecessors, enemies and the witches of his village for his poor performance.

I have no reason to doubt Jonathan's ability to perform excellently, but all I have seen is a President who promised us increased power supply but, just this week, Egbin power plant was shut down and the supply of electricity that had never been enough dropped almost by half. Bomb detonations have taken over the nation; security is now "of the Lord" ‑ and not of the Nigeria Police Force anymore.

I would like to remind our President that the makeup of his cabinet will go a long way in determining what his testimonial will be by 2015. Just to remind him, it took just an attorney-general in the name of Aondoakaa to delay his assumption of office while his predecessor was incapable of continuing. So he should beware of such officials in his cabinet. Else he would just be turned into a mute by his own ‘Turai', whose ministerial list is allegedly even longer than his.

I know the Jonathan that was and that is ‑ and the summation of both makes me panic at the prospect of the whole four years of his administration easily turning out to be a waste.

ogugua88:

When he has reshuffled his cabinet and starts to get the hang of things, good days will surely come for Naija

greateros:
Tell me another story

Have u ever heard the phrase "hit the ground running"? That my dear is the new phrase in leadership.

It simply means performance in governance starting from day one in office.

The world have no room for slowpoke leaders any more[except in Nigeria].

omoalaro:
Democracy is much more than casting your vote at the ballot. This was a recent message to our leaders from the US ambassador to Nigeria.